Previously: Chapter 86: The Pyramid
Waiting Around to Fight
Kal really wants to know what Xara’s role in Ildrex’ hierarchy actually was, and if she is worthy of being brought back. She leans down to her, casting the spell which allows her to speak with the dead again, and watches Xara’s burned corpse take a deep breath as if coming up for air for the first time. Kal asks her several questions, about her relationship with Ildrex, how she felt about him, if they believe in the same thing. All her answers are normal, just a woman who loved her husband. But when Kal asks if he was messing with her mind, the corpse twitches, as if unsure. Maybe. Her last words, prompted by Kal, is “I wonder where it all went wrong.” And then she returns to being an inanimate corpse.
Not satisfied, Kal sits down and does a commune to ask her god what answers they can bring. Halfway through the casting, Kal changes her mind, not reaching out to Udall, but instead to Mova. The world becomes desaturated and muted around her, and Kal asks if Xara was acting on her own volition, or if she was a victim. The answer from the goddess of death is short.
“One can be both an accomplice and a victim. Xara was both. It has been so long that it is hard to say how her mind would react without her chains.”
While all this is happening, Penny is looking around the area for the Blood Fiend, while Elmroot does a commune with nature. They appear to be alone for now, with no sight of the fiend. Coming out of her trance, Kal wonders how they should approach the situation. She wants to give Xara another chance, and asks Thistlethorn if she can reincarnate her. Relic shoots in, wondering if they are going to go around to everyone they have killed and ask them if they are a victim and resurrect them too, which makes Thistlethorn look back at all the battles they have faced and the people they have killed. Kal says that Xara is a special case for her, considering what Ildrex did to her, maybe both of them.
The party decides to retire for the night, as it appears the blood fiend won’t make an appearance today. They go back to the mansion which Relic summons, eats some dinner and relaxes with some studying. Thistlethorn sits down with Berry, Argus and Ira to cuddle, giving them some long needed attention. Her staff is lying on the floor next to them, slowly humming with that familiar glow. She picks it up, and tries to make a pledge to Faunus about what she can do to awaken it fully. After focusing, she only gets a feeling of “impurity.”
That night, Thistlethorn has a dream about wandering around her forest, seeing all the various critters and birds around her. As she is walking she comes across a grand stag, who looks deep into her eyes. She realises that this is Faunus himself. They wander together through the forest, but soon darkness falls upon them, and huge shadowy claws grab a hold of him, dragging him away from Thistlethorn. She tries to run after him but cannot catch up. What remains is a familiar sounding laughter before she wakes up.
Thistlethorn doesn’t sleep much for the rest of the night, getting up early and wandering around the mansion. Penny asks why she is pacing, but Kal and Relic can both tell that something is wrong. She tells them all about her dream, and the feeling she got. The same feeling as when her forest was infected by the hags. Hala must be back. Relic wants to know more about what happened, so Thistlethorn tells him the whole story. As Hala is a night hag Relic thinks it might be difficult to kill her, but they figure she probably survived her “death” somehow by perhaps escaping into the ethereal realm.
They wonder if this is what is needed to fully awaken the Heartwood Staff, and decide that they should soon head to the forest to see if they can find Hala and finish her off for good. They know they need a soul stone for the Drow Wayfinder, and think that they might be able to use Hala’s, if they can catch her, but it is going to be difficult. Then they think they should go after Nezznar, to finish him off as well, and that will hopefully be enough to fully awaken The Arachnostaff as well. If they are to face down a god, they should do it fully prepared.
Penny, Kal and Thistlethorn eventually head outside, where Kal takes a small part of Xara’s corpse, putting it in the bag of holding for when they will try to reincarnate her, if she is willing. Penny makes a snow woman looking like herself, and then one of Granny. Kal does a commune to ask if the blood fiend is getting close, learning that it will arrive within half a day. Wanting to be properly prepared for the enemy, as she knows it is a fiend, Kal decides to use some high level magic to summon a temple of the gods, dedicated to Udall, to hopefully weaken the monster when it arrives. A massive structure of a beautiful temple appears, with a balcony for Relic and a door as a chokepoint.
Thistlethorn sends the owls out to scout for approaching enemies, and it doesn’t take long before they reappear flying through the doors. They say there is a large group heading straight for them, maybe 10-15 creatures led by a larger one. Thistlethorn lets the owls inside the mansion, taking out Berry from his pocket ball. Kal casts a few protective spells, Relic positions himself on the balcony, while Thistlethorn and Penny both prepare some spells for when the enemy comes within reach.
The Blood Fiend
A large bang is heard as a horde of fiends try to get inside the temple. Kal uses prestidigitation to quickly open up the doors, as Thistlethorn lets off a moonbeam and Penny fires off a prismatic spray at the group waiting outside. The blood fiend manages to shake off the damage, making his way into the temple, but it appears that his thralls are stuck outside, unable to get in. Penny and Thistlethorn together manage to take out about half of the group of thralls, but the blood fiend has his eyes fixed on Kal.
Unfortunately, Penny is directly in his path, so she becomes his first victim. He slashes at her with his long claws, grabbing her, slamming her into the ground, before finishing off by throwing her directly at Kal, who manages to get her shield up in time. Penny is not so lucky, having taken a massive amount of damage in a few seconds, so she lies on the ground in Pain. The party focuses all his fire on him, sparing the odd attack to the fiends when they can, but the blood fiend is relentless, focusing all his attention on Kal. Berry comes up behind him, clawing and biting at him, but he cannot drag his attention away from the cleric.
Relic tries to fire off a disintegrate at the blood fiend, but he just dodges it effortlessly. Kal tries to push him away each time he attacks her, but he is relentless, so she eventually summons her divine wings, allowing her to fly away from him. Thistlethorn has also used protection from evil and good on her, so he is having a hard time targeting her. As Kal takes to the skies, the blood fiend now focuses on Thistlethorn instead, grabbing her and sinking his teeth into her neck, draining her blood and healing himself in the process. Thistlethorn strikes back at him, then misty steps away from him, manoeuvring herself behind Penny.
Penny is standing on the side, away from the danger as she has learned her lesson, and fires at the blood fiend with Harmony, getting fine strikes at him, while Kal prepares to strike from above. Suddenly, Berry makes another attack from behind the blood fiend, who is now blinded, managing to get his claws into an open wound, and pulls. He basically flays the blood fiend, which disintegrates into a cloud of blood, coating both Berry and Penny who are standing close enough to feel the effect. The remaining thralls on the outside of the temple melts away into nothing as their master perishes. The day is won.
Suddenly, the blood begins to move, and returns to the place where the blood fiend stood mere seconds before, gathering itself into a shape, which eventually hardens, blood falling away, revealing a book in the spot. Kal flies over, and picks it up, finding it to be a Tome of Understanding. It will make her wisdom score increase if she spends a week reading on it. She pockets it into the bag of holding, happy to be done with the chase.
Thistlethorn is unsure if she should do the ritual that she usually does, but decides to try, placing a stone in the blood, but the stone just sizzles away into nothing. She instead does it to the poor souls outside which was dragged into the service of the blood fiend. Mere pulps of liquid and blood in the shapes of bodies lie in the snow, with Thistlethorn placing a rock on each of them, while also making some flowers for them. Berry and Penny both walk into the snow, rolling around to clean the blood from themselves, using prestidigitation to clean off the rest.
The party is all too happy to be done with the snow and cold for now, deciding to make their way towards warmer climates. They figure that they should go get the soul stone from the shopkeeper that Thervan told them about, before heading to Faunus' Forest to see if they can find the remnants of Hala and put her to rest, once and for all. They gather around Kal, as she does a word of recall, leaving the Thax'ning Tribes for now.
Moldark
The party emerges to a city coated in dusk, with the sun about to disappear behind the horizon soon. They head towards the part of town Thervan told them that the shop would be, a small tailor called the Lodestone. After some time they eventually find it, but they realise that something is off, as there is no clothes in either the window display or visible on the hangers within. A lone man is sitting behind the desk, reading something.
The party enters, with the man welcoming them, asking how he can help, without once looking up from his book. Penny takes the lead, saying the key phrase, that they are looking for a “fine silver robe for a midnight meeting.” Finally he looks up, and eyes the party. He points to Kal, saying that she should stay here, as his master doesn’t appreciate her kind. Kal is confused at first, but Relic clarifies that he probably means clerics. The man nods, telling the rest of the party to follow him, with Berry staying behind to keep Kal company.
The man leads them to the back rooms, where he opens a hidden door revealing a metal staircase within. He tells them to descend and pull the bell. His master will be with them shortly after. As he passes them to head back to the desk, Thistlethorn sees that he has several bite marks on his neck, twin puncture wounds, reminiscent of a vampire bite. She wonders if he is under his charm, but he carries himself in a way that suggests that he is here willingly.
The trio descends, with the owls perching on Thistlethorn’s staff. Penny heads down first, and spots the antechamber with a handle hanging from a hole in the ceiling. She pulls it as the others enter the room. In the distance, a bell is heard, and after a few minutes, the doors open, revealing a large chamber, smelling vaguely of sewer, with a bald, wrinkly figure standing behind a counter on the opposite side. His eyes are made of pure gold, and his smile reveals two large fangs.
The man floats inhumanely fast over to the party, without walking, greeting them fondly, demanding introductions. They all tell them who they are, and he in return introduces himself as Moldark, the proprietor of this “humble establishment.” Penny tries to act overly pleasant, saying that they are seeking a soul stone. Moldark rejoices, saying that he has many different kinds of that, gesturing to a shelf hanging behind the counter, filled with around 40 different soul stones of varying sizes and colours. Penny asks kindly what he would want for one of them, and Moldark explains that he has been gifted with the ability to see things as they truly are, gesturing to his eyes. He tells the party that he usually sells his artifacts to people wanting power, and usually the cost is gold, but sometimes, people need something from his store, and in those cases, the price is higher, mere gold will not suffice.
He tells them that their friend, Fie, visited him once, asking for power, which is something that he desired, but did not need, so the cost was simple. He then asks the party what they could offer for one soul stone. They party looks at each other, wondering what he would want. He says that he is a collector of trinkets, and his first thought was one of the owls, but he can tell that they would be unwilling to part with them. If they carry something of either evil origins or sentient objects, those are the ones he prefers. Unfortunately, the last evil and sentient item they found, Blackrazor, has been given to Thervan. They try to offer up a few other items, like the sword of wounding, but a soul stone is more valuable it seems. He would be willing to offer some of the other trinkets he has for the sword, but the party doesn’t like the idea.
Thistlethorn asks him how one makes a soul stone, and Moldark is only too happy to explain, procuring a knife with a vein running from the blade to the hilt, where there is a space. Apparently you need a willing or innocent soul, and if they are killed by the blade, the soul gathers and hardens into a soul stone on the hilt. She asks if it has to be an innocent or willing creature, which apparently it does. Moldark says this is ancient and dark magic, and not something he imagines the party wishes to dabble in. They ask who these souls belong to, with him picking up a small stone, saying that this was a young girl he harvested himself. Thistlethorn and Relic are both unable to contain their disgust, giving him dirty looks.
Penny sends a sending to Thervan, who is apparently well known to Moldark, with him giving comments that he will someday “have” him, asking if he has some dark magical item the party can trade with Moldark for a soul stone. She replies that he is unwilling to budge, and they are unwilling to give him Blackrazor as it is not something they want to be out and about. He says that he might have just the thing. Moldark asks excitedly if Thervan can offer payment. Penny replies that they will see.
Kal and Berry suddenly hear the distinct sound of a teleportation spell, as Thervan comes walking into the shop carrying a long object wrapped in cloth. He greets Kal and Lothor, the shopkeeper, saying that he has been summoned. The rest of the party below hears him descending, with Moldark unable to contain himself from the excitement. Thervan comes walking in with a long and heavy object in cloth wrappings, greeting the party and Moldark.
He asks if this will be payment enough, pulling away the cloth, revealing the artifact within to be a skull attached to a spine, almost like a macabre mace. Thervan explains that he has had a hard time getting rid of this, as the mechanics of destroying it escapes him since he lacks the right resources or people, but he tells Moldark that he must pledge to keep this in his personal collection, not sell it onwards. The others say that they will keep watch and come find him if he breaks the promise. Moldark pledges that it will not leave his vaults, saying that this payment is accepted.
He goes over to the shelf again, picking up the soul of the little girl, but Thistlethorn says that she doesn’t want that one, asking if he has any souls that were actually willing. He says that they are in luck, as he has a single one that came to him willingly. A young girl of 14 named Fiona, who had shamed her family by becoming pregnant. She begged him to release her from her pain, and he offered to harvest her soul for a greater purpose. She accepted, and now she is here, being offered to the party’s holy quest. Thistlethorn accepts, taking the soul stone, and then walking straight out, followed swiftly by Relic. Thervan and Penny linger behind, with Moldark giving Penny a proper goodbye, kissing her hand, before they too depart. Penny shivers from disgust as they walk up the stairs.
Back in the shop, they find Kal still waiting with Lothor reading his book still. Thistlethorn is not impressed with Thervan’s recommendation of where to find a soul stone, saying that Moldark has harvested most if not all of them himself. Thervan rubs the ridge of his nose in frustration, saying that Moldark told him that he had traded for them, and Thervan believed him. He promises to speak with Moldark and compel him to release the souls, as he is already on thin ice for having this shop in the city, no matter how useful he can be. The party is happy to hear this, saying it’s a step in the right direction.
Thervan asks if the party needs accommodations at the castle, or if they want to sleep in their own home. Penny uses her coin to ask if they should stay in the castle, getting a positive reply. They decide to join Thervan, who heads outside with the others. Penny lingers back just a smidge, asking Lothor what book he is reading. Apparently it’s a romance novel, “The Lusty Dragonborn Maid”, but it is too graphic for him. She says she might check it out.
Back at the castle, Thervan has the handmaidens prepare the chambers for the party, who retires for the evening. Penny practices with her spelling and numbers, with Kal going to speak to Thistlethorn again. She says that she wishes Thistlethorn to use the tome to increase her wisdom, but Thistlethorn declines, saying that Kal drew the card, it was her enemy, and so it should go to her. Besides, Thistlethorn will most likely be alive when the book regains its magic, so she can just read it then. Kal concedes, saying that she will leave the book for her when she is done with it.
That night, they all have various dreams granted to them by Lot, as they grow powerful once more from all their experiences.
Next: Chapter 88: Calamity